About how many people does a single military unit represent?

[nekom]

I know it's spelled out in the population number in cities (though it's not linear), but I'd like to know roughly how many people a military unit is supposed to represent. I like to group and name stacks/groups of units, and I'm not sure what I should call them, Battalion, division, regiment, etc. All of those terms have fairly specific numbers, and I'd like to be as realistic as possible here. I doubt it's spelled out anywhere in the game, but I'd like to know what other people would guess it to be.

 

[Pitman]

Don't even bother. It is entirely abstract and bears no relationship to any actual unit structure or organization whatsoever. Plus unit sizes change over time. A U.S. regiment in 1850 would be about a thousand guys. A century later, 3000. And they are not consistent from country to country. In Great Britain, a regiment was not even a tactical unit, it was a collection of battalions that could be spread out around the globe (due to the peculiar battalion system that evolved in the British army).

If you feel you have to assign something, what you do is take the size of your army in people and divide it by the number of military units you have. That will give you a person to unit ratio.

Here is an incredibly rough and, I reiterate, totally irrelevant and arbitrary scale that you can then assign:

100-300 guys per unit: each unit is a company

1,000 guys per unit: each unit is a battalion

3,000 guys per unit: each unit is a regiment

12,000 to 20,000 guys per unit: each unit is a division

40 to 80k guys per unit: each unit is a corps

Over 80k guys per unit: each unit is an army

That's based (very roughly) on typical mid-20th century ratios and units

 

[Julian Delphiki]

Soldiers/Power Ratings BtS 3.13 Update

Here is explained how the game calculates those numbers in detail.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

I was wondering what was the fastest way to increase your power rating, so I divided the number of soldiers by the cost in hammers of each unit or building to see which was the best value:

Unit/Building		SoldiersCost	Value
Modern Armor		40000	240	166.7
Panzer			30000	180	166.7
Guided Missile		10000	60	166.7
Mobile Artiller		32000	200	160.0
Bowman			4000	25	160.0
Skirmisher		4000	25	160.0
Mechanized Infantry	30000	200	150.0
Fighter			15000	100	150.0
Tank			25000	180	138.9
Navy SEAL		22000	160	137.5
Mobile SAM		30000	220	136.4
Artillery		20000	150	133.3
SAM Infantry		20000	150	133.3
Anti-Tank		16000	120	133.3
Gunship			20000	160	125.0
Cossak			15000	120	125.0
Tactical Nuke		30000	250	120.0
Infantry		16000	140	114.3
Dog Soldier		4000	35	114.3
Vulture			4000	35	114.3
Marine			18000	160	112.5
Paratrooper		18000	160	112.5
Redcoat			12000	110	109.1
Bomber			15000	140	107.1
Stealth Bomber		20000	200	100.0
Jet Fighter		15000	150	100.0
Cavalry			12000	120	100.0
Conquistador		10000	100	100.0
Grenadier		10000	100	100.0
Janissary		8000	80	100.0
Musketeer		8000	80	100.0
Oromo Warrior		8000	80	100.0
Berserker		7000	70	100.0
Ballista Elephant	6000	60	100.0
Immortal		3000	30	100.0
War Chariot		3000	30	100.0
Rifleman		10000	110	90.9
Cuirassier		9000	100	90.0
Camel Archer		8000	90	88.9
Cataphract		8000	90	88.9
Praetorian		4000	45	88.9
Samurai			6000	70	85.7
Axeman			3000	35	85.7
Holkan			3000	35	85.7
Impi			3000	35	85.7
Jaguar			3000	35	85.7
Phalanx			3000	35	85.7
Cho-Ko-Nu		5000	60	83.3
Landsknecht		5000	60	83.3
War Elephant		5000	60	83.3
ICBM			40000	500	80.0
Machine Gun		10000	125	80.0
Cannon			8000	100	80.0
Hwacha			4000	50	80.0
Keshik			4000	50	80.0
Longbowman		4000	50	80.0
Numidian Cavalry	4000	50	80.0
Archer			2000	25	80.0
Musketman		6000	80	75.0
Gallic Warrior		3000	40	75.0
Swordsman		3000	40	75.0
Maceman			5000	70	71.4
Frigate			6000	90	66.7
Knight			6000	90	66.7
Crossbowman		4000	60	66.7
Pikeman			4000	60	66.7
Chariot			2000	30	66.7
Quechua			1000	15	66.7
Warrior			1000	15	66.7
Ger			4000	60	66.7
Great Wall		10000	150	66.7
East Indiaman		5000	80	62.5
Ironclad		6000	100	60.0
Catapult		3000	50	60.0
Horse Archer		3000	50	60.0
Trireme			3000	50	60.0
Barracks		3000	50	60.0
Dun			3000	50	60.0
Carrier			10000	175	57.1
Spearman		2000	35	57.1
Missile Cruiser		14000	260	53.8
Battleship		12000	225	53.3
Submarine		8000	150	53.3
Ship of the Line	6000	120	50.0
Galleon			4000	80	50.0
Privateer		4000	80	50.0
Trebuchet		4000	80	50.0
Caravel			3000	60	50.0
Carrack			3000	60	50.0
Ikhanda			3000	60	50.0
Transport		6000	125	48.0
Attack Submarine	8000	180	44.4
Stealth Destroyer	10000	250	40.0
Destroyer		8000	200	40.0
Galley			2000	50	40.0
Heroic Epic		8000	200	40.0
Moai Statues		10000	250	40.0
Walls			2000	50	40.0
Stable			2000	60	33.3
Totem Pole		1000	30	33.3
Citadel			3000	100	30.0
Airship			2000	80	25.0
Castle			2000	100	20.0
Dry Dock		2000	120	16.7
Forge			2000	120	16.7
Mint			2000	120	16.7
Trading Post		1000	60	16.7
Chichen Itza		8000	500	16.0
Statue of Zeus		4000	300	13.3
Dike			2000	180	11.1
Levee			2000	180	11.1
Cristor Redentor	10000	1000	10.0
Industrial Park		2000	200	10.0
West Point		8000	800	10.0
Assembly Plant		2000	250	8.0
Factory			2000	250	8.0
Mt. Rushmore		4000	500	8.0
Red Cross		4000	600	6.7
Shale Plant		1000	150	6.7
Ironworks		4000	700	5.7

Now these are what would be the best to build to make the AI think that you're strong in the shortest amount of time and some of them, if they fail to scare off the AI, would be very ineffective. Notice that building transports would be better than building attack subs or destroyers, and ships in general seem to be a poor way to boost your power rating. ICBMs don't give you much perceived bang for you buck, but look at skirmisher and bowmen! Using either of them you could rack up a big early game lead in perceived power. At least some of the units that really would make for a more powerful military like modern armour and Mechanized Infantry are also the most efficient way to make it look like your strong.
I don't see any obviously abusable way to fool the AI, and even if there way, it would only be useful if you intended to play a strategy where you never want to ever get in a fight.